NEW DELHI: The Union Sports Ministry on Friday announced the list of athletes who will be conferred with the National Sports Awards, and in a move without precedent, declaring as many as five names for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – the country’s highest sporting honour.
The confirmation of five sportspersons for the Khel Ratna and 27 for the Arjuna Award far exceeds the numbers suggested by established practice and guidelines, clearly devaluing the sanctity of the awards.
Not that anyone is bothered but it is still needs putting on record. The guidelines state that “normally not more than 15 (Arjuna) awards could be given in any calendar year”. Exceptions for higher numbers, “with proper justification and approval” of the Sports Minister, could be made to reflect the performance of the athletes in the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games. That this was not an Olympic, Asian or Commonwealth Games year is obviously of no consequence.
For the Khel Ratna, the guidelines say that there would be “only one (emphasis ours) award every year to be given to an individual sportsperson”, and that “this condition will be relaxed only in exceptional circumstances”.
The guidelines for the Dronacharya Award state that “ordinarily not more than five awards could be given in any calendar year”, and out of these, two are to be “earmarked for lifetime contribution”.
THE AWARDS
RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD
Rohit Sharma – Cricket
Mariyappan T. – Para Athletics
Ms. Manika Batra – Table Tennis
Ms. Vinesh – Wrestling
Ms. Rani – Hockey
DRONACHARYA AWARD
Life-Time Category
Dharmendra Tiwary – Archery
Purushotham Rai – Athletics
Shiv Singh – Boxing
Romesh Pathania – Hockey
Krishan Kumar Hooda – Kabaddi
Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar – Para Powerlifting
Naresh Kumar – Tennis
Om Parkash Dahiya – Wrestling
Regular Category
Jude Felix Sebastian – Hockey
Yogesh Malviya – Mallakhamb
Jaspal Rana – Shooting
Kuldeep Kumar Handoo – Wushu
Gaurav Khanna – Para Badminton
ARJUNA AWARD
Atanu Das – Archery
Ms. Dutee Chand – Athletics
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy – Badminton
Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty – Badminton
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi – Basketball
Subedar Manish Kaushik – Boxing
Ms. Lovlina Borgohain – Boxing
Ishant Sharma – Cricket
Ms. Deepti Sharma – Cricket
Sawant Ajay Anant – Equestrian
Sandesh Jhingan – Football
Ms. Aditi Ashok – Golf
Akashdeep Singh – Hockey
Ms. Deepika – Hockey
Deepak – Kabaddi
Kale Sarika Sudhakar – Kho Kho
Dattu Baban Bhokanal – Rowing
Ms. Manu Bhaker – Shooting
Saurabh Chaudhary – Shooting
Ms. Madhurika Suhas Patkar – Table Tennis
Divij Sharan – Tennis
Shiva Keshavan – Winter Sports
Ms. Divya Kakran – Wrestling
Rahul Aware – Wrestling
Suyash Narayan Jadhav – Para Swimming
Sandeep – Para Athletics
Manish Narwal – Para Shooting
DHYAN CHAND AWARD
Kuldip Singh Bhullar – Athletics
Ms. Jincy Philips – Athletics
Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe – Badminton
Ms. Trupti Murgunde – Badminton
Ms. N. Usha – Boxing
Lakha Singh – Boxing
Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu – Football
Ajit Singh – Hockey
Manpreet Singh – Kabaddi
J. Ranjith Kumar – Para Athletics
Satyaprakash Tiwari – Para Badminton
Manjeet Singh – Rowing
Late Sachin Nag – Swimming
Nandan P Bal – Tennis
Netarpal Hooda – Wrestling
TENZING NORGAY NATIONAL ADVENTURE AWARDS 2019
Ms. Anita Devi – Land Adventure
Col. Sarfraz Singh – Land Adventure
Taka Tamut – Land Adventure
Narender Singh – Land Adventure
Keval Hiren Kakka – Land Adventure
Satendra Singh – Water Adventure
Gajanand Yadava – Air Adventure
Late Magan Bissa – Life Time Achievement
MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD (MAKA) TROPHY
Panjab University, Chandigarh
RASHTRIYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR
Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent – Lakshya Institute & Army Sports Institute
Encouragement to sports through Corporate Social Responsibility – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd.
Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures – Air Force Sports Control Board
Reproducing what the Sports Ministry has to state regarding the awards: “Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years; Arjuna Award is given for consistent outstanding performance for four years; Dronacharya Award goes to the coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events; Dhyan Chand Award is for life time contribution to sports development and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to the corporate entities (both in private and public sector) and individuals who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development. Overall top performing university in inter-university tournaments is given Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy. In addition to these Sports Awards, the Ministry also recognises the spirit of adventure among the people of the country by bestowing the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.”
